


Truth Will Out

by ShadowQuest



Series: One Final Leap [8]
Category: Quantum Leap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 04:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3836650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowQuest/pseuds/ShadowQuest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alia tells the others how the Other Project was funded, and how she became involved in it.  Meanwhile Zoey tries yet again to get at Sam, by hurting Al, and Sammy Jo and Cat plot how to destroy the Other Project.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truth Will Out

Chapter Seven

“Truth Will Out”

 

Al hadn’t thought he’d be able to get to sleep.  After everything Ziggy had just told them, and all the implications that information raised, the last thing he’d been expecting was sleeping, ever again.

But his body had other ideas.  No sooner had he returned to his apartment, crawled into bed, promised Tina he’d explain everything in the morning, and put his head on the pillow, than he’d fallen fast asleep.  And, despite the turmoil in his mind, he actually slept without dreams, or nightmares.

 

Sam, likewise, fell nearly instantly asleep.  He told Donna he’d tell her everything in the morning, and shortly after he closed his eyes drifted off.  However, he did have dreams, although the images were so scattered they never formed into a cohesive whole, and weren’t enough to disturb his slumber again.

 

Verbeena tossed and turned for a few minutes, until she used a relaxation technique she’d often suggested to her patients, and finally managed to get to sleep.  The only one who spent a restless night was Alia, and for good reason – in the morning she’d have to dredge up horrible memories of the years of torture she’d endured, in the hopes that Sam and Al would be able to come up with a way to destroy the other project, once and for all.

 

“They’re going to hate me.”

“They’re not going to hate you.”

Alia stopped pacing and turned to face Verbeena.  “They’re going to hate me for what I did to you,” she attested.

Verbeena sighed, then took the young woman’s hands.  “They won’t hate you,” she repeated.  “You didn’t _do_ anything to me.  I’m not hurt, or damaged in any way.  You didn’t put me in any danger...”

“But I _did_!” Alia protested.  “If Thames had found out who you are...”

“But he didn’t.  And we got out safely.  It’s ok, honey, really.  If you hadn’t...borrowed me, you would’ve found someone else.  What you did was incredibly brave, and I’m proud to have been able to help, even if only peripherally.”

Alia smiled faintly.  Verbeena continued to amaze her, and she couldn’t help thinking she hadn’t done anything to deserve such kindness.  But, she realized, that was simply left over from the way she’d been treated by Zoe and Thames, and she actually, even if she had trouble accepting it, _did_ deserve to be treated with compassion.  That realization was only one of the many things Verbeena was helping her to see.

“Now, stop worrying,” Verbeena instructed kindly.  “It’ll be fine.  You’ll see.”

“I hope so,” Alia said glumly, dropping onto Verbeena’s couch.  Then another thought came to her.  “What if Al hates me?”

Verbeena blinked.  “Why on earth would he hate you?  You saved his life.  Twice.”

“Because I used Gooshie the first time.”

Verbeena sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.  “Girl, you worry _far_ too much about things that really have no chance of happening.  Al’s not going to hate you.”  She sighed; she’d only known Alia for a day, but that was long enough to know that there was a lifetime of hurt in the younger woman’s heart, hurt that Verbeena wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to heal.  “Leaping...has no set rules.  It can’t, by its very nature.  Sam had been gone for ten years.  Despite all our efforts, we couldn’t get him home.  The one time he was...allowed to return, it was far too brief.  And he had to leave again.  To save Al.”  She swallowed the lump that was trying to build in her throat – even all these years later, the memory of that day was still painful.

“I didn’t know about that.”

Verbeena nodded.  “It was...1999.  Due to a...minor malfunction, Sam and Al had switched places during a Leap, and Sam was home.  Al, however, was trapped in 1945, and destined to die.  Sam figured out how to target Al, and Leapt back to take his place, even though he knew we’d likely not be able to get him home again.  He sacrificed his life here, left Donna again, because Al means that much to him.  Al knew what Sam had given up in order to save him, and he knew that Sam _had_ to do that, because...that’s who Sam is.”  She dabbed at the corner of one eye.  “Months later, when the person Sam had Leaped into escaped, Al went after him, even though the man was a serial killer; he knew he had to do whatever it took to get the man back to the Waiting Room, even if it meant taking a bullet.”

Alia blinked in surprise.  “Al was...shot?”

“Yes.  But thankfully he was wearing a bullet-proof vest.  So, you see, the bond between them...it’s deeper than mere friendship.  If you hadn’t saved Al, if Sam had finally come home and Al had died in the Imaging Chamber, Sam would have rebuilt the Accelerator and gone back to save him.  Even if that meant he himself got trapped in the past again.  Or killed if the Chamber wasn’t working properly.”

“That’s why...”  Alia’s eyes widened with understanding.  “That’s why he was there.  In 1984, when I...bumped Maxine out.  He...went back to save Al.”

“According to Ziggy, somehow Sam _knew_ he had to have Al in his life, even though in the reality he was in at the time they’d never met.  The connection is _that_ strong between them.”

“Wow,” Alia said quietly, shaking her head.  “That’s...amazing.”

Verbeena smiled.  “That’s Sam and Al.  Now, why don’t you go get freshened up?  They’ll be here soon.”

With a nervous gulp, Alia took her advice.

 

“Albert, stop picking.”

Al blinked and frowned at Tina.  “What?”

“Stop picking at your food,” she elaborated, pointing at his pancakes with her fork.  “You and Sam have to meet with Verbeena in...twenty minutes, and you’ve barely touched your breakfast.”

“Oh.  Guess I’m just...not hungry.  Too much on my mind.”  When she raised an eyebrow at him, he flinched.  “Sorry, honey.  I just...can’t eat.”

Tina sighed, and her expression softened.  “It’s all right, babe.  From what you told me, it’s understandable your stomach’s a bit...uneasy.”

While his wife had made breakfast, Al had filled Tina in on what Ziggy had told him and Sam earlier that morning, which had effectively ruined his appetite.  He’d known Maxine had held a grudge against him for years, had tried turning their daughter against him, but he didn’t know her hatred was so deep-seated that she’d actually go back into the past to try to kill him.  And Ziggy had promised there was more “good” news.  Between that, and whatever Verbeena was going to tell them...

Al sighed and speared a chunk of maple-syrup-soaked pancake.  He stared at it, trying to find some amount of hunger.  He knew he needed to eat, but just the thought of food made his throat close up.  However, he knew that if he didn’t eat now he’d be in for a nasty headache later on, so he closed his eyes and took a bite.  He’d assumed he’d have to force the bite down, but as soon as he tasted the pure, homemade maple syrup, which Tina got from a friend in Wisconsin, he realized he actually _was_ hungry, and took another, larger bite.

 

Ten minutes later he was using the last bit of pancake to wipe up the remaining syrup when Sam knocked on their door.  Donna was with him, and she told Tina, “Figured it’d be easier going with him and hearing it all firsthand.”

“Makes sense,” Tina agreed.  “Honey?”

Al nodded as he finished his breakfast and wiped the stickiness off his mouth.  “Yeah, might as well come along.  Verbeena didn’t say she only wanted me and Sam.”  He helped Tina load the dishwasher, then the four of them headed for Verbeena’s office.

 

Cat’s fingers flew over the keyboard as Ziggy intoned “A tutor who tooted the flute tried to teach two tooters to toot.  Said the two to the tutor ‘Is it harder to toot, or to tutor two tooters to toot?’”

“Ack!” Cat exclaimed, staring at the screen.

“You got it correct,” Ziggy praised.  “With only a...fifteen second lag.”

Cat shook her head.  “Why I ever agreed to a word game with a super-intelligent computer...”

“It’s a good exercise,” the computer replied.  “Not only does it improve your typing skills, but also your listening and cognition.”

Cat folded her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair.  “Yeah, yeah.  I think you were just bored, and wanted to torment someone.”

“If I wished to torment someone, there’s always the Admiral.”

Cat shot the computer’s speakers a glare.  “You leave my father alone.  Honestly, why are you so...antagonistic towards him all the time?”

“He started it,” Ziggy responded.  “I think he was...intimidated by me.”

Cat chuckled.  “That’s understandable.  Bad enough his best friend’s a super-genius, then he has to go and create the first completely artificial intelligence, which then begins to...learn.”  She shook her head.  “It’s like all those old horror stories, like Varley’s ‘Press Enter’ or that book by Dean Koontz... ‘Demon Seed’.”

Ziggy produced a sound like a snort of derision.  “Except I have never imprisoned the Admiral nor induced him to commit suicide.”

“I know that, Ziggy.  I just mean...”  She sighed.  “Look – before Sam created you, everyone assumed the worst about artificial intelligence.  Probably because they assumed the worst about themselves, that anyone who could make a thinking machine must have some...secret desire to take over mankind.  It’s a staple of science fiction; 2001, the Terminator series...”

“But I’m not like Skynet,” Ziggy protested.

“No, you’re not.  Because Sam gave you more than intelligence – he gave you humanity.”

The computer was quiet for a while, then said, “Thank you, Ms. Reynolds.”

“Cat, please.  Ms. Reynolds was...my mother.”

“I’m sorry, Ms....Caitlin.”

Cat chuckled and shook her head.  “Close enough.  And another thing.  Dad would’ve been lost without you.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You know what I mean.  You were the only connection he had with Sam in the past, and his only companion when the government shut this place down.  You mean a lot to him, Ziggy.”

“It’d be nice to hear it from him,” the computer said wistfully.

 

Meanwhile, Sammy Jo was doing what she did best – theorizing.

“Hey, Ziggy?” she called out.

“Yes, Doctor Fuller?” the computer responded immediately; she was still carrying on her conversation with Cat, but quite capable of talking to three other people simultaneously.

“Sammy Jo, Zig.  C’mon.”

The computer sighed.  “But that would go against my protocol.”

Sammy Jo chuckled.  “Hey, you’re family.  No need to be using our titles, ya know.”

The computer seemed bemused by her suggestion.  “As you wish.” 

“Geez, don’t sound so enthused.  Anyway, what I wanted to ask you was: have you seen Independence Day?”

“Do you mean the 1996 movie starring Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“I don’t watch movies, Doc...Sammy Jo.  Although I am familiar with the plot.”

“Well, I was thinking...”

“Uh-oh.”

“Very funny.  In order to destroy the alien mother ship, which can withstand all human weapons, Jeff Goldblum’s character creates a computer virus...”

“That is then delivered directly into the mother ship’s computer,” Ziggy finished.

“Exactly.  We need to destroy that other project out there, the one Zoe and Thames run, right?”

“That is correct.”

“Well, what’s the best way to destroy a computer?”

“You give it a cold,” Ziggy replied, paraphrasing the suggestion of one of the characters in the movie.

Sammy Jo waited while Ziggy followed that idea to its logical conclusion.

Ten seconds later the computer said quietly “Oh my.”

 

“So.  Now that we’re all here,” Verbeena started.  She’d been slightly dismayed when Al and Sam had shown up with their wives, but realized she shouldn’t have been surprised.  They were family, after all.  And what Al, in particular, was about to learn was going to be rather...difficult to hear.

“Glad you are,” Donna said, hugging her friend.  “We were worried.”

“What happened?” Tina asked as they all found seats in Verbeena’s small office.

She leaned against her desk and sighed.  “Well...you have to promise me, Al, that you won’t get upset at what you’re about to hear.”

Al raised an eyebrow.  “Quite the request, ‘Beena.  Which means I’m most likely not gonna like hearing whatever it is.”

“That...would be putting it mildly,” Alia said, coming in from the bathroom.

Everyone stared at her in surprise.  Sam was the first to find his voice.  “Alia?  How...?”

Tina tightened her grip on Al’s hand, and Donna looked at Sam.  “That’s Alia?”

“Hi,” she said.  “I know this is...a bit of a shock.”  She stood next to Verbeena, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  “And...a lot of what I’m going to tell you...well, it’s a good thing you’re sitting down.”  She tried to chuckle, but was too nervous.

“Verbeena, what’s going on?” Al asked, his tone icy.

“Easy, Al,” Sam said quietly.  He knew his friend didn’t trust Alia, even though she’d saved his life.  Twice, apparently.

“It’s ok, Sam,” Alia assured him.  “Al has every right to be...defensive.  When we first met...things weren’t exactly...”

“But you’ve changed,” Sam cut in.  “You saved Al’s life.”

Alia nodded.  “Yes, I did.  Although the second time it was actually you who saved him.”

Sam shook his head.  “You prevented Maxine from pulling the trigger.”

“Can we argue about who saved me later?” Al cut in.  “I want to know what she’s doing here, where Verbeena went, and what the other bad news is that Ziggy has for us.”  He glanced up at the ceiling speakers.  “Chime in whenever you want to, Ziggy.  You always do.”

“I’m rather busy at the moment, Ad...Al,” the computer responded, “but I will contribute when it’s necessary for me to do so.”

Al was so taken aback by her using his first name that he didn’t even make a joke about her not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

“So...I suppose the best place to start is the beginning,” Alia went on.  “I’m an orphan.  Never knew my birth parents, got bounced around from foster home to foster home.”

Al winced; he knew what it was like to be raised in an orphanage.  He fought the urge to ask her to get to the point, and settled into the couch, realizing he was feeling just the beginnings of sympathy towards her.

“I wasn’t exactly...loved by any of the families who took me in.  I was...quiet, shy.  Some places...I was treated more like free labor than a child.  I did pretty good in school, but didn’t really stand out academically.  When I was nineteen, out of school, and too old for fostering, I had to find a place of my own.  I got a job as a bagger in a small grocery store, used the money the state had given me to get a little studio apartment, and...well, tried to get by.  Then one day I met a man named Thames...”

 

_She was young, naive, lonely.  Starved for attention, starved for affection.  Easy prey for a predator._

_And he was a master at what he did.  He was friendly, treated her like a queen, buying things for her but not so much or so often that she felt uncomfortable.  He listened to her hopes and dreams, encouraged her to pursue her interest in fashion design.  She thought she was falling in love, because she didn’t know any better._

_When he first took her to bed, she was petrified.  She didn’t know anything about being with a man, and she desperately didn’t want to do something wrong, and risk losing him.  He laughed, but only because she was “a refreshing change” from the women he’d been with before, women who thought they knew everything and tried to prove it.  He explained everything that was going to happen, but even so the pain was worse than anything she could have imagined.  She didn’t think it was supposed to hurt_ so _much, but she was afraid to say anything, so she bit down on her lower lip, hard enough to draw blood, to keep the screams of pain from escaping._

_Because what he did to her was not making love._

Al abruptly got up from the couch and started to leave Verbeena’s office.  Tina got up, as well, but before she could say anything he turned to her, pain clear on his face.  “I...I can’t...”  He shook his head.  “I can’t...hear any more of this,” he managed, his voice thick.  One thing he had never done was force himself on a woman; just the thought of it made him sick.  He looked at the concerned faces of his friends, and ran a shaking hand down his face.  “I...I turn off the TV if there’s a report...I can’t look at newspaper articles.  And...this?  This is worse.”  He looked at Alia, and choked out, “Because I know you.”

Alia seemed genuinely surprised by Al’s reaction.  “I’m sorry, Al.  I...I thought...”

“Well, you thought wrong, ok?” he cut in angrily.

“Al, what’s the matter?” Sam asked, getting up to cross to his friend.  That was the wrong move, however – Al backed towards the door as if he were cornered.

“I told you.  I don’t like talkin’ about this stuff.”

“We’ve dealt with a lot worse over the years, Al.  C’mon.  What’s bothering you?”

Al looked at Sam, clearly upset.  “You don’t remember, do you, Sammy?” he asked quietly.

Sam frowned.  “Remember...what?”

“Katie McBain.”

It took Sam a few moments to search his memory for that name, and then it came to him.  “Oh...”  He closed his eyes briefly and swore under his breath.  “Yeah, I remember her, Al.”

“Who was Katie?” Alia asked.

“One of the people Sam Leaped into,” Verbeena told her quietly.  “A young victim of date rape.”

Alia’s face drained of color, and she walked over to the two friends.  “I...I am _so_ sorry...”

Al turned to face her.  “Sam had to testify against her rapist.  But of course he didn’t know what had happened, and it would’ve taken too long for me to relay everything Katie told me.  So we...tweaked the Imaging Chamber, and she came in with me.  She held my hand, and testified.  It was...”  He closed his eyes against the memory, and shook his head, a tear slipping free.

He opened his eyes when he felt Alia taking his hand.  “I’m so sorry, Al.  I didn’t know.  I didn’t mean...”

“Lots about us you don’t know,” Al pointed out, not unkindly.  He offered her a small smile, then startled her by pulling her into a hug.  “You don’t have to tell us all of that, you know,” he said, holding her close.  “If it...hurts too much, just...just don’t talk about it.”

“But...you _do_ need to know, Al.  You need to know all of it.  So you understand who you’re up against.”  She pulled back to look at him, cupping the side of his face with one hand.  “They’re ruthless.  They won’t stop.  Ever.  It’s up to us to _make_ them stop.”  She turned to look at the rest of them.  “You don’t know...what they’re capable of.  And what’s worse, they think _they’re_ in the right.” 

She sighed and moved back to Verbeena’s desk, arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold, or scared.  “Thames was...very charismatic.  But cold.  So...cold.  After he...finished with me...”  She closed her eyes and turned her head slightly, trying to regain control.  “He...just got up, got dressed, left me...lying there...bleeding.  I...I finally...dragged myself off the bed and into the bathroom.  Somehow I got into the tub and ran the shower.  I don’t know how long I was in there.  I couldn’t stop crying, couldn’t stop shaking.”

“Did you call the cops?” Donna asked.

Alia scoffed, and turned to look at her.  “Why would they believe me?  I was nobody.  That’s how I felt, anyway.  And he made sure I knew it.  He came back the next day, waited for me to get off work and followed me home, shoved me through the door as soon as I had it unlocked, and...”  She shook her head.  “Days turned into weeks, weeks become months.”  Her voice cracked.  “He...broke me...in every way possible.”

Verbeena put a hand on her shoulder, and Alia turned into her embrace.  No one else said anything; what could they say?  Nothing would ease the pain Alia had lived through, was obviously still carrying.

After a while, Alia was able to continue.  “One day Thames introduced me to this man, someone he said might...have a use for me.”

Al clenched his teeth against the anger, and bile, he felt rising up his throat.  He had a sick feeling he knew what “use” this other man might have for her.

“No,” Sam said quietly, shaking his head; obviously, he’d come to the same conclusion.

“This...other man was a professor, and Thames apparently worked for him, or with him.  I didn’t understand a lot of what they were saying, but this professor, Sebastian, said I was going to be ‘just perfect’ for their experiments.”

Sam swallowed audibly.  “Wh-what...kind of experiments?” he asked, the words coming out strained.

“Time travel experiments,” Alia said.

“Oh, thank god,” Tina said, her voice ragged.  “I-I thought...”  She looked at Al, who took her hand.

Alia frowned.  “What?”

“We...ah...thought Thames was...well...farming you out,” Al told her.

“Oh.  Oh!  Oh, no.  I...sorry.  I guess...I kinda...misled you a little bit.  Sorry.”  She made a wry face.  “I’m not really that good of a storyteller.”

“It’s not really that good of a story to be telling,” Donna pointed out.

“True.”

“So...how about you just...cut to the chase?” Sam suggested.  “Ziggy told us last night that Al’s been funding the other project...”

“No I wasn’t, Sam,” Al cut in, a bit of anger creeping into his words.

“Well, not knowingly,” Sam amended.  “But your alimony payments _were_ being used by Zoe and Thames.”

“Not at first,” Alia assured him.  “Sebastian was a professor at MIT...”

“Yeah, I know,” Sam interrupted.  “He and I developed the string theory together.”

Alia’s jaw dropped at that revelation, and she stared at him.  “Oh...”

He held up a hand.  “Don’t...say you’re sorry,” he requested, exasperation slipping into his voice.  “It’s not your fault, and you had no way of knowing.”  He swiped the hand down his face.  “Just...”  He took a deep breath, held it a few moments, then let it out.  Donna hugged his arm, and he turned to her.  “Now you know why I wanted you along,” he said.

“How much of this did you know?” she asked. 

“Well, Ziggy told us some last night.  Or...this morning.  But we still don’t know where Verbeena disappeared to, or how any of this is going to stop them.”

“It’s a singular sensation, isn’t it?” Verbeena asked him.

Sam frowned.  “What is?”

“The...way your body feels.  It’s...just a tingle, at first, kind of like...getting too close to a really powerful generator, or being in an electrical storm.  Then it intensifies, courses all through your body.”

Sam gaped at her – she was describing what he’d felt all the hundreds of times he’d Leapt.  But how could she know?  He’d never described it to anyone.  Unless... He slowly turned to look at Alia.

“You...borrowed Verbeena?” he asked incredulously.

Alia flinched as all eyes turned to her, anger flickering in both Sam’s and Al’s.  “Well...I...needed someone they didn’t know...”

“And you chose _Verbeena_?” Al demanded, straightening and squaring his shoulders.  “You risked the life of our friend, to...what?  Infiltrate the other project?”

“Al...” Verbeena started, taking a step towards him.

“I needed to get in there, find out what they were up to,” Alia said hastily.  “I knew that they wouldn’t stop until you were dead, Al, and Sam was stranded in the past.  They hate you both that much.  You stand for everything they despise.  Zoe’s the one who got the funding pulled, got the government to shut you down.  I had to learn what their next move would be, and...”  She faltered, and turned from them.  In a very quiet voice she said, “I needed a way to get in here, too.”

“What?” Tina asked.

“I...”  She sighed and turned back to them.  “I...had to meet Sam.  Me, in the flesh, actually get to meet him.”  She looked him in the eyes.  “Had to see you...just once.  To thank you for saving my life.”

 

Cat knocked on the doorframe and then stuck her head in Sammy Jo’s office.  “Hey.”

Sammy Jo let out a startled yelp, and turned to her friend.  “Hey yourself sometime and see how you like it.”

Cat grinned and leaned in further.  “I probably would.  You up for lunch?”

Sammy Jo blinked and looked at her watch.  “12:30?  How’d it get so late so early?”

Cat chuckled.  “That probably makes sense to you time-travel types, but us regular folk would probably just wonder when it got so late.”

Sammy Jo made a face and got up from her desk.  “I’m hardly a ‘time-travel type’,” she replied.  “I just work here.”

“Well, enough work.  C’mon.  I’m starving, and I need to get out of this place before I go batty.”

“How could anyone tell?” Sammy Jo cracked as they headed for the elevator.

“Ha ha very funny,” Cat griped, rolling her eyes.  “So...what’s got your big scary brain so engaged you lost track of time?”

“A virus,” Sammy Jo answered, stepping into the cab.

“A...what now?” Cat queried as she joined her.

“A computer virus I’m trying to develop.”

“I...see.  Ziggy been getting on your nerves again?”

“I heard that,” the computer informed her.

“Hush.”

“You sound so like your father.”

Sammy Jo chuckled and shook her head.  Ziggy was right – Cat was sounding a lot like her father lately.  “No, not for Ziggy.”  She paused as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out.  “Now that I think, maybe you can give me a hand.”

“Depends on what you’re up to,” Cat said, an eyebrow arched.

“Gonna deliver a little package to some friends of ours.”

Cat stopped walking and stared at her.  “Are...you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

Sammy Jo stopped and turned back to face her.  “I’m saying you and I are going to develop a virus that will wipe out that other project’s computer and put an end to their messing around in time.”  She swung a hand to indicate the entire project.  “What Dad and Al built here?  This...this is...” she shook her head “beautiful.  A...dream realized.  And what Dad did back there, all those years he was gone, all those people he helped...”  She trailed off, too overcome with emotion to say anything more.

Cat reached out and took her hand.  “I know, Sammy Jo.”

Sammy Jo managed a smile.  “Zoe and the others...”  She shook her head, angrily this time.  “They...the project they made, it’s like...a bastardization of this.  They only wanted to hurt people, Cat.  And they’re still out there, somewhere, still...trying.”  She wiped at the tears that were falling.  “They’ve tried to kill Al, they’ve tried to maroon Dad back there.  Because they hate, and they’re evil and...”  She got too choked up to continue, and Cat pulled her into a hug.

“We’ll get them,” she promised.  “You and me, we’ll figure out a way to ruin their computer, to bring the whole thing down.  We owe Dad and Sam that much.”

Sammy Jo sniffled.  “You...you really think we can?”

“Hey, this is _us_ ,” Cat said with conviction.  “With your smarts and my computer know-how, we’ll figure it out.”  She let go of Sammy Jo and dried her tears with her thumbs.  “Now, let’s go find some food.  I’m famished.”

Just as they were heading out to go to their favorite cafe, Ziggy suddenly said “I want to help.”

“You what?” Cat asked, pulling up short.

“I want to help,” the computer repeated.  “You’re right, Sammy Jo.  This whole complex is something of a miracle.  By all rights it shouldn’t exist.  _I_ shouldn’t exist.  But...your father had a vision.  And he was fortunate that he had a friend like Al who believed in him strongly enough, and had the clout to be able to wrangle government funding.  That other project...it’s pure evil.  And it needs to be destroyed.  So...whatever I can do, just let me know.”

Sammy Jo smiled.  “Don’t worry, Zig – we wouldn’t dream of keeping you out of the loop on this.  If their computer is anything like you, in construction I mean, you should be indispensible to us.”

“Plus we’ll need a guinea pig to run the virus on,” Cat joked...and then walked smack into the door when Ziggy prevented it from opening for her.  She rubbed her nose and glared at the nearest speaker, then sighed and shook her head.  “I guess I deserved that,” she admitted with a slight chuckle.  “Sorry, Ziggy.”

 

“So...any other little bombs you’d like to drop on us?” Al asked, somewhat testily.  “I mean, so far we’ve found out that my ex was using my hard-earned money to fund a corrupt project that was designed and built by Sam’s old MIT professor, that same ex Leapt back into herself in order to kill me and Alia borrowed our shrink to spy on the other project.  Oh, and apparently I keep dying.”  He dropped into the couch again and ran both hands down his face with a weary sigh.  “Did I miss anything?”

“No, I think that about covers it,” Verbeena said lightly.

“Well, that’s not _quite_ all,” Alia hedged.

Al glanced at her, then sighed again and shook his head.  “Why am I not surprised?”

“Maxine was working for them.”

“Yeah, we got that.”

“No, I mean...”  Alia let out a sigh of her own.  “Zoe acted as her counselor at the clinic, convinced her to go work for them, get her revenge against you.  Leaping back to herself...was supposed to be the first of many.”

Both of Sam’s eyebrows went up.  “She...what?  Was your replacement?”

Alia nodded.  “And I have no doubt that I was supposed to be her next target.”

“But you interrupted her,” Donna pointed out.

“Right.  But where she ended up...”  She shrugged.  “We never tried Leaping into someone who’d already been Leapt into.”  She frowned slightly.

“She would’ve gone home,” Al said.  “That’s what happened to me when I was that Army captain, and Sam...”  He trailed off and looked across at Sam.  “Dammit!  There I go, dying again!”

Sam couldn’t hold back the chuckle.  “Might have to start calling you Lazarus,” he teased.

Al’s face was completely serious as he counted on his fingers.  “The time I was Tom Jarret, then when you Leapt into me, then when the lightning fried the Project, and when Maxine shot me...”

“It’s getting to be a bad habit with you,” Tina quipped.

“Yeah, well, I’m tired of dying.  It’s someone else’s turn for a change.”

 

Cat and Sammy Jo were brainstorming computer viruses over lunch, sitting at one of the outdoor tables of the little Italian bistro.

“We have a couple logistical problems facing us,” Sammy Jo pointed out.

“Oh?”

“We don’t know where they are, and we don’t know how we’re going to deliver the package.”

Cat arched an eyebrow as she selected another breadstick.  “Well, I’m sure Ziggy can help us with the second problem,” she assumed.  “And as for the first...”

“Too bad we don’t have someone on the inside,” Sammy Jo lamented.  Just then her wrist communicator flashed, and she keyed it on.  “Yeah, Ziggy?”

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been...monitoring your conversation,” the computer began.

“Eavesdropping, you mean,” Cat accused.

Sammy Jo waved the accusation off.  “I assume you were doing so because you surmised we’d be discussing our earlier topic, and you wanted to be able to contribute,” she said.

Cat groaned and rubbed her temples with one hand.  “Ya know, you start talking really funny when you two are having a conversation.”

Sammy Jo chuckled as the computer admitted that was her intention.  “Actually, yes.  Since your departure from the project I’ve been mulling over your idea.”  Her tone becoming more formal.  “And also monitoring the conversation currently taking place in Doctor Beeks’ office...”

“Ziggy!  You know whatever is said in Verbeena’s office is strictly confidential,” Sammy Jo admonished.

“Normally that is the case.  However doctor-patient confidentiality does not apply to this situation.”  The computer sounded a bit smug, and Sammy Jo rolled her eyes.

“All right.”  She waited a moment, and then pressed, “Care to explain why, and what that has to do with what we’re talking about?”

Now the smugness was tinged with condescension.  “Because the conversation currently taking place in her office is between the remaining members of the project...and Alia.”

Cat dropped her breadstick and stared at Sammy Jo’s wrist communicator.  Sammy Jo blinked a few times, and their eyes met over the table as she requested, “Say that again?”

“Alia is here.  She requested that the Admiral and Doctor Beckett meet in Doctor Beeks’ office this morning, and they were accompanied by their wives.  Alia has been telling them about her involvement in the other project, in the hopes that they’d be able to help her figure out a way to finally destroy it.”

Sammy Jo and Cat exchanged another look.  How fortuitous that someone who used to work at that other project was now at their own, and willing to help them!  Sammy Jo knew that her father had helped save Alia’s life, and Sam was convinced that she actually despised what she’d done at the other project, had only done what they’d forced her to do because they tortured her if she didn’t.

“Ziggy, I can’t believe this!”

“I am incapable of lying, Doctor Fuller,” the computer stated.

“Yeah.  No, I know.  I just...I mean...”  Sammy Jo shook her head. “We can be there in...thirty minutes, Ziggy.”

Cat groaned.  “But we haven’t finished lunch yet!  I’ve been craving Italian all week!”

Sammy Jo was about to say something when an uniformed officer came up to their table.

“Are you Caitlin Reynolds?” he asked, looking at Cat, and ignoring Sammy Jo completely.

She blinked and frowned slightly.  “I am.  What seems to be the problem?”

“Would you come with me, please?  There’s been an accident.”

Cat felt a chill course up her spine, but she was also wary.  “What kind of accident?”

“Just please come with me,” the officer repeated.  “It’s your mother.”

Sammy Jo stood, the sleeve of her shirt slipping over the still-active comm-unit.  “What about Maxine?” she asked.

The officer flicked his gaze towards her, then looked back at Cat, his tone getting a bit more forceful as he requested, “I’ll take you to her, but we have to leave right now.”

Cat stood, but didn’t move.  “What’s wrong with her?” she asked.

The officer seemed to be losing patience, and said, “They found her body this morning.  She’s in the hospital, in a coma.  Now, please...” He took a step towards her, but Sammy Jo stepped in his path.  Something was bothering her; she didn’t trust this officer, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.

“Which hospital?” she asked.  And that was the only thing she managed to get out – the officer pulled his gun and shot her.

As she fell she saw him lunge across and grab Cat by the arm and start to drag her away.  Cat was struggling to break free, and the last thing Sammy Jo saw was the man wrap his arms around Cat’s, picking her up off the ground and hurrying towards a black SUV that was waiting at the curb.

“Ziggy...” she managed weakly, and then lost consciousness.

 

For the first time in her existence, Ziggy knew what panic felt like.  She had heard the entire conversation, and then the gunshot and the sounds of a struggle, and there wasn’t anything she could do.  She had no idea who had been shot, or what else had happened; she heard a body hitting the ground, heard the clatter of plates and other things being knocked from the table, heard bystanders screaming, and she tried to sort it all out. 

She was a supremely intelligent computer, able to do countless calculations with lightning speed, theorize what needed to be done in the past to correct what had gone wrong, but in this instance she was blind and helpless.  And it was such an unfamiliar sensation, such an uncomfortable feeling, she was nearly overwhelmed by it.

She heard her name called faintly, someone shout “Call 911!  She’s been shot!” and another voice yell “Her friend was just kidnapped by the cops!” and then the communicator went dead.

 

While Cat and Sammy Jo had been talking about their plans to write a virus that could ruin the other project’s computer, Alia had been telling the others about that project, and the computer that ran it.

“Lothos was a breakthrough,” she said.  “Sebastian was so proud of it.  Of course, at first it was just a rudimentary computer, but he spent years developing it, while the rest of the project was being constructed.  He’d retired from MIT and sunk all of his own money into the project.  He seemed...driven to complete it.”

Sam grimaced – he knew all too well the...compulsion to test, and hopefully prove, his theory.  It had cost him ten years, and very nearly his life.

“Did...”  He had to clear his throat a couple times so his words would come out clear.  “Was he...able to use the accelerator?”

Alia shook her head sadly.  “It took six years just to get everything built.  We were still another four years from being ready to test the accelerator.  But Sebastian...”  She swallowed, hard, and dried a tear from her cheek.  “He was...so nice, Sam.  He was the only true friend I had there.  I-I couldn’t...couldn’t tell him what Thames and Zoe were doing to me; it would have broken his heart.  He was so sweet, so trusting...”  She trailed off, fighting to control her emotions.  “One day he...he’d stepped into the accelerator, to make some adjustments to the shielding and...Thames activated it.  The radiation...”

“Oh, god...” Donna breathed, taking Sam’s hand and holding it tightly.  The parallels to their own project were frightening.

Before anyone could say anything else, however, Ziggy shouted “Doctor Beckett!  Sammy Jo’s been shot!”

Sam jumped to his feet, a horrible feeling of surrealism washing over him.  “What!?”

“Sammy Jo was shot, and a cop kidnapped Cat and I don’t know what to do!”

“Ziggy, calm down,” Tina instructed.  Somehow she was remaining calm, or at least appeared to be.  “What happened, exactly?”

The computer was silent for a moment, then replayed the conversation she’d had with Sammy Jo and Cat.  “I’m sorry, Doctor Beckett.  I don’t have any information on your daughter’s condition.  I am monitoring all the hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices.  As soon as I know her location and condition I’ll let you know.”

“What about Cat?” Al asked, his voice a strained whisper.  “Where is my daughter?”

“I am unable to ascertain that at the moment, Admiral.  I apologize.  However, I will risk theorizing that the officer who approached them was not actually a policeman, and she’s been taken for some reason.”

“Gee, you think?” he asked bitterly.  He felt Tina put a hand on his shoulder, and turned to face her.  “My baby,” he said, fighting down the tears.  “Sammy’s little girl.  Who...”

“I don’t know, honey,” she said, her own eyes filling with tears.  “But we’ll find out.  We’ll find out, and we’ll get her back.”  She pulled him into a hug, and promised vehemently, “And they’ll pay for what they did.”

 

“What did you do!?” Zoe demanded angrily when Keith carried the unconscious Cat, slung over his shoulder, into the control room and dumped her on the floor.

“She put up a fight,” he grumbled, prodding at his bloody lip with his tongue.

“She weighs all of, what, 90 pounds?”

Keith snorted.  “Don’t know what she weighs, but she knows some crazy-ass martial arts.  Had to chase her down the block before I could get her in the truck.”

Zoe glowered at him.  “This was supposed to be a simple snatch job.  How many people saw you?”

Wiping the blood off on the back of his hand, he shrugged a shoulder.  “What’s it matter?  I did what ya told me to do.  Found ‘em at that little Italian place you told me about, waited until they were talking, then tried the ruse about whatsername, the mother.  The other one got all suspicious and...” he shrugged again.  “I had to improvise.”

Zoe raised an eyebrow.  “What’d you do with the other one?”

“Shot her, then grabbed this one and took off.”

“You _shot_ her?”

“Well, yeah.  So what?  You wanted this one, right?” He prodded Cat in the side with a foot.  “You got her.  Now, pay up.”

“Is she alive?”

Keith frowned.  “Who?”

Zoe gave him a sour look, then crouched at Cat’s side and felt for her pulse.  It was weak, but there.  “What’d you hit her with?”

“I just cut off her air; I didn’t use any drugs.  You said not to.”  He was getting impatient.  “Look, I gotta get this back to the wardrobe department before they realize it’s missing.  You gonna pay me, or what?”

Zoe slowly stood up and faced him, a cold smile spreading across her face.  “Oh, you’ll get paid.  Not to worry.”  She pushed a button on the console, and the door behind her rose.  “Would you see to Mister Reeves’ payment, please?” she requested without turning to face whoever had come into the room.

“Be my pleasure,” Thames claimed with a smile nearly as cold as hers.  He took Keith by the arm, roughly, and escorted him from the room.  After the door slid shut Zoe crouched at Cat’s side again.

“You’ll have to forgive my...associate,” she said to the unconscious woman.  “He wasn’t hired for his brains.”  She carefully examined Cat for any injuries, and was pleased to not find any.  Scooping Cat up, she stood, and then carried her to another room, where she secured her to a chair, gagged her, then leaned against a table and waited for her to come around.

 

While Zoe was securing their prisoner, Thames was attending to loose ends.

He led Keith outside and walked away from the building a ways, keeping his back to him.  “Zoe said you haven’t been paid yet.”

Keith nodded.  “Yeah, man.  I did what y’all wanted me to, I snatched that chick.  Kinda hard to do in a public place, but...”  He shrugged.  “That’s how you wanted it, right?  Public so her old man would hear about it right away.”

Thames nodded.  He slid his gun out of its holster, then turned around.  “And now for your payment.”

Keith barely had time to realize there was a gun pointing at his chest before the bullet left the barrel.

Thames watched dispassionately as the body hit the ground, a small cloud of dust rising from the impact.  Death had been instantaneous; the heart had stopped immediately, and there was only a small amount of blood.  Still, Thames had always been fastidious about his appearance, and the blood was problematic.  With a sigh, he pulled out a handkerchief, bent over and pushed it into the hole in the other man’s chest, then grabbed the corpse by the feet and dragged it to the stolen SUV.  With a bit of a struggle – Keith was solidly built – he managed to get the body into the vehicle, then he plucked the handkerchief free, folded it so the blood-soaked portion was inside, and quickly wiped down any surface he might’ve touched.  He pulled out a cell phone, dialed a number, then said “Package is ready for delivery,” and hung up.

In five minutes a tow truck arrived, the SUV was hooked up, and hauled away.  Thames dusted his hands off, and went back inside, whistling to himself.  Not a bad afternoon.

 

After nearly an hour, Al was beyond distraught; he was desperate.  Sam had had a hard time keeping his friend from charging off in an attempt to find Cat and rescue her.  He’d actually had to physically restrain Al, which had been rather difficult.

“Al, we don’t know where they’re holding her,” he said gently, trying to get Al to sit back down.  They were still in Verbeena’s office; even though Ziggy could have notified all of them simultaneously once she learned anything, none of them wanted to leave.  Somehow being together made the waiting easier.  Well, somewhat easier.

“I just don’t understand why the hell we haven’t heard anything!” Al complained, dropping back into the couch and rubbing his face roughly.  He was hungry, scared, angry and on the verge of hysterical.  “We know who took her.  Why haven’t they made any demands?”

“That’s how they work,” Alia said quietly.  “The waiting is part of the torture.  They leave you alone, to think all sorts of horrible things.  Sometimes...what you come up with is actually worse than what they do.  At first.”

Al groaned and buried his face in his hands.  Tina slid an arm around his waist and leaned against him, unable to offer any words of comfort.

Sam, meanwhile, was feeling just as helpless as Al – while they hadn’t heard from Cat’s kidnappers, they also hadn’t been able to locate which medical facility Sammy Jo had been taken to.  It was all he could do to keep from dreading the worst, imagining his beautiful daughter stretched out on a table in a coroner’s exam room, or lying on a metal table, awaiting transfer to a chilled cabinet in the morgue...

“Doctor Beckett.”

Donna took his hand and he held it like a lifeline.  “Yeah?”

“I have located Sammy Jo.  She is fine.  The bullet grazed her head, and she was treated by the paramedics on the scene.  She’s spent the last hour giving a statement to the police, and is now in need of a ride back home.”

Sam collapsed into a chair, overcome by emotions.  Mostly relief that he hadn’t lost his daughter, but also a certain amount of guilt for feeling that relief while Cat was still missing.

“I’ll go get her,” Alia offered, and Sam lifted his head, blinking away tears.

“What?”

“I’ll go get her.  It’s the least I can do.”

Donna shook her head.  “You don’t have to, Alia.  I’ll go.”

But Alia was already heading for the door.  “Please, let me.  You all should stay here...”  She trailed off, rather than finish by saying something that would hurt Al more.

“She doesn’t know who you are,” Tina pointed out.  “After what she just went through, a stranger would be the last person she’s going to go anywhere with.”

“I’ll go with her,” Verbeena volunteered.  “Besides, I’m the one with keys.”  She smiled faintly as she joined Alia by the door.  She sighed quietly, wanting to offer words of encouragement to Al, but knowing nothing she said could ease the fear of losing his daughter.

As if reading her thoughts, he looked over at her.  “Get some take-out, would you?” he requested, trying to make the words sound light.  “I’m starving.”

Verbeena smiled slightly; it was good that he wasn’t sunken so far in his pain that he was neglecting to take care of himself.  Such a change from earlier in the year.  “I’ll see what we can do,” she promised, then left with Alia.

Al sighed heavily, the moment of humor passed.  All they could do now was wait.  “I’m happy she’s ok, Sam,” he said honestly, looking over at his friend.

Sam swallowed hard and wiped away an errant tear.  “Cat will be, too, Al.  She’s tough, like her father.”

The smile Al offered wasn’t more than a quick sketch.  “It’s because of her father that she’s in this mess,” he stated.

“We don’t know that.”

“Oh, c’mon, Sammy.  I’m not dumb.  And neither are you.  You know Zoe’s behind this.  It’s just one more attempt to get at me, to hurt me.”  He clenched a hand tightly in anger.

“And, through you, Sam,” Donna pointed out.  “Dammit.  We have to figure out how to stop them.”

“Define ‘stop’,” Al requested, a cold edge to his words.

Donna frowned.  “What do you mean?”

“That’s what I want to know.  How far are you willing to go?”  He looked at Tina and Sam.  “How far are any of you willing to go?”

“Al...what are you suggesting?”

He stood, and drew himself to his full height, an aura of command settling over him.  “I’m suggesting...we need to stop them, permanently.  But how do we do that?  We can’t have them arrested...”

“Why the hell not!?” Tina demanded, getting to her feet and facing him.  She wasn’t intimidated by him, no matter how dangerous he seemed right now.  “Two attempts on your life, kidnapping Cat, shooting Sammy Jo...”

“We can’t prove any of that,” he cut in quietly.  “Tina, think about it – this has been a top-secret government project for a decade.  You know as well as any of us that none of what we did here can be proven.  For all anyone who funded us knew, we were just...having a ten-year-long party in the desert.”  He made a vague gesture with one hand.  “Remember that senate budget hearing I had to testify at shortly after Sam started Leaping?  Despite my report, they wouldn’t believe he was doing anything in the past, unless he changed something major in history.”  He snorted and shook his head.  “Never mind the fact that even if Sam _could_ have done that, none of them would’ve known it was changed.”

Sam realized where Al was heading.  “So...we kill them,” he said simply.

Donna gasped and stared at him.  “Sam, you can’t be serious!”

He nodded.  “I am, Donna.  It’s our only option.  Even if, as Tina suggested, we could have them arrested, like Al said we can’t prove anything.  And we don’t know that they haven’t paid off cops, or judges.  They have to be stopped, honey.  Their project needs to be destroyed, and they need to be killed, or they’ll build it again somewhere else, and start all over.  You heard Alia – they’re relentless, but, worse, they’re evil.”

“But they’re _human_ ,” Donna protested.  “You can’t just...take a life.”

Al raised an eyebrow.  “Wouldn’t be the first time, Donna.  For either of us.  Like it or not, Sam’s killed before.”

Donna shook her head.  “I-I can’t...I won’t be part of this.”

Sam tried to pull her into a hug, but she pushed him away.  He sighed unhappily.  “Donna, I’m sorry.  I know...”  He sighed and shook his head.  “I know this is...a horrible thing to think about, but...we really have no other choice.”  He reached out and took her hand, and she didn’t pull away.  Gently pulling her to him, he slipped an arm around her waist, and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.  Looking into her eyes, he said gently, “I don’t like it any more than you do, but it’s our only option.  They’d kill all of us without a single thought.”

She looked up into his face, knowing that he was right, but hating the fact.  After a few moments, she nodded slightly.  “All right.  I know it has to be done.  I hate it, I don’t want anything to do with it, but...I understand why.”

Sam kissed her softly, his heart breaking that such evil had come into their lives, and that they had no other way to stop it than by killing two people.

 

“Ah, so you’re awake my pet.  Good.”

Cat groaned as she raised her head, and blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes to focus.  It took her a few moments to realize she was bound to a chair, but to her credit she didn’t panic, didn’t try to struggle against her restraints – she knew that’s what was expected of her, and she was determined to not give her captors any satisfaction.  No matter what they put her through, she wouldn’t fight them, wouldn’t cry out.  It was a painful lesson she’d learned from all the years of abuse at her mother’s hand; if you didn’t react, no matter how bad the pain, eventually they’d grow tired of what they were doing, and leave.

Instead, she looked directly at who she knew to be Zoe, and grimly waited to hear what they had in store for her.

Zoe pursed her lips and arched an eyebrow.  “What, no muffled screams against your gag?  No jouncing in your chair, hoping to free yourself?”  She tilted her head and clucked her tongue.  “Ah well.  I’ve cracked tougher nuts than you, dearie.  It’s just a matter of time.”  She pushed off the table she’d been leaning against and smiled icily.  “And I have plenty of that at my disposal.”

Cat studied the older woman; she had a cold attractiveness, a certain...aloofness, a sense of being above it all, but there was no trace of humanity in her eyes.  Only a cold, predatory gleam.

“First, let me start with a little story,” Zoe said, moving into the center of the room.  The way she carried herself, Cat half expected a spotlight to suddenly shine down on her, and a full orchestra to swell out of the quiet with a dramatic theme to accentuate her words.  “Do you like stories, Cat?  Can I call you Cat, or would you prefer Caitlin?  Hmm?”

Cat’s eyes widened briefly, and Zoe smiled that arctic smile again.  “Oh, I know who you are, child.  That’s why we took you, and not your friend.  Although...” Zoe tilted her head again as if in contemplation, “taking her could have been...interesting, as well.  But...you, my dear, will give us _much_ better results.”  She chuckled to herself.  “You see, I know who your father is.”

Zoe started pacing while she talked, like a bored tiger in a cage.  “But I’ll get to that in a while.  First, a little about me.  I’m sure you’re wondering what kind of woman I am, how I could do the things I’ve done.”  She stopped pacing and faced Cat, as if expecting a response.  When Cat nodded slightly, she smiled briefly, and began her pacing and narration again.  “I moved to your country when I was quite young.  Fell in love and got married to a man who moved in very high, very important circles.  He was...cold.”  For a brief moment there was a flicker of pain that showed through her stony mask, but it was gone nearly as fast as it arrived.  “I won’t bore you with the details, pet, but...suffice it to say, the marriage ended badly.  So I moved out here, and I tried to help women who were in bad relationships.  Oh, I tried _so_ hard to help them.”

She shook her head, as if to break free of those memories.  “I grew disgusted with it all.  And then one day I happened to meet a man who...opened up a whole new world to me.” She stopped pacing again, and stood looking at the floor.  “And I realized...all that hatred that had built in me all those years, through my unloving marriage and the divorce...”  Again she broke off and shook her head, and made a small sound of derision.  “I wanted to hurt people, Cat.  Hurt them in ways...”  She lifted her head and looked at Cat again, and any sign of an actual, feeling human was gone, replaced once more with the cold veneer of a predator staring down its prey.

For the first time, Cat swallowed down a sob of fear.  She had little hope of making it out of this alive, and she had a very sick feeling that her father would be killed, not just hurt, if he tried to rescue her.  And Zoe’s next words confirmed that feeling.

“Things were going quite well, until that interfering do-gooder Sam Beckett and the equally annoying Al Calavicci started messing things up for us.”  Zoe clenched her hands into such tight fists that her nails bit into her palms.  She didn’t even seem to realize it until blood began to trickle down her hands.  She raised her fists and slowly opened them, looking at the crescent wounds in her skin, and smiled a crooked smile.

She walked over to Cat and cupped her cheek with one of those bloody hands.  “I’ve tried so hard,” she said, her voice a harsh whisper, “to put wrong all that they’ve put right.  All these years, I’ve tried.  Because no one deserves a happy ending.  No one.”  She slapped Cat then, hard enough to turn her head.  She grabbed her chin and turned her head back to face her.  “We’ll keep you here for a few days, make sure your dear father is at his wits end.  How long do you think it’ll take before he turns to the bottle?  Hmm?  To drown the pain, to silence the nightmares.  How long will it take before the old fool’s besotted enough to try something?”

Zoe dropped her hand and stepped back, laughing to herself.  “Let the games begin!”


End file.
